Market Size & Health — Establishment Counts by Industry and State (2018–2022)

We pulled five years of U.S. Census County Business Patterns (CBP) data (2018–2022) for these sectors (Professional Services, Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food, Health Care, and Finance) across the United States and the states included in the dataset. The headline: the vast majority of establishments in every sector are very small (0–4 or 5–9 employees), and over 2018–2022 US establishment counts for these sectors were stable, with no net growth at the national level. Below we give the latest-year numbers, the trend, and what it means for comparing industries and states.

All figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau. Data last generated 2026-03-20T14:45:16Z. Years in dataset: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (latest: 2022).

The numbers (2022)

Establishment counts by employment-size band for 2022:

Trends over time (2018–2022)

Over the five years we have data for, US total establishment counts for these sectors were stable: no net growth at the national level. Professional Services, Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food, Health Care, and Finance each show broadly consistent US totals in 2018 as in 2022 in our CBP pull. That can reflect (1) CBP release lags or vintage effects in the API, or (2) genuine stability in the number of establishments—entry and exit balancing out. State-level and size-band detail in the full table below lets you compare states across years. When future vintages add newer years, re-running the pipeline will append them so you can see whether growth or decline appears.

US total establishments by sector, by year:

What it means

• Small establishments dominate. In every sector and year we have, the 0–4 (and often 5–9) employee band has the most establishments. If you are entering one of these sectors, you are mostly in a landscape of very small players.
• Accommodation and Food has a stronger mid-size layer. This sector has large counts in the 20–49 and 50–99 bands (e.g. 171,502 and 175,565 nationally in the latest data), so the size distribution is less skewed to the smallest class than in Professional Services or Finance—more chain or multi-unit presence, different competitive dynamics.
• State patterns vary. Use the full table (and the filters above) to compare any state against the national mix.
• Flat US trend 2018–2022. Our five-year series shows no net growth in US establishment counts for these sectors. As new CBP vintages are released, re-run the data pipeline to append new years and see whether that changes.

Full table: Firm counts by size and geography

Census County Business Patterns (CBP). Each row is a year, industry, and geography. Cells are establishment counts in that employment-size band. “Data not available” where the API did not return. The table includes all years (2018–2022) so you can compare over time.

Source: Census County Business Patterns (CBP).

Market size (revenue)

We also pull market size (total receipts/revenue) by industry and geography from the Census Annual Business Survey (ABS) and BEA GDP by Industry. When those sources return data for the requested year(s), the table below fills in; until then it shows “Data not available.”

Source for market size: Census ABS; BEA GDP by Industry. See Data sources & methodology below.

Entry and exit trends

Entry rate, exit rate, and net formation rate come from the Census Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS). When BDS returns data for the requested year range, the table below will show rates; until then it shows “Data not available.”

Source: Census BDS.

Data Sources & Methodology

Data is pulled by scripts/pull_market_data.py; results are written to _data/market/market.json. Running with MARKET_DATA_YEARS=2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 (or adding a new year like MARKET_DATA_YEARS=2023) appends to existing data so historical years are kept and trends are visible. Last generated: 2026-03-20T14:45:16Z.

In summary

We used five years of Census CBP data (2018–2022) to show establishment counts by industry and employment size for Professional Services, Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food, Health Care, and Finance across the United States and the states included in the dataset. Trend takeaway: US establishment counts for these sectors were stable over the period—no net growth at the national level. Small establishments (0–4 and 5–9 employees) dominate every sector; Accommodation and Food has a stronger mid-size band. Use the full table and charts to compare sectors and states and to inform where you start or expand.

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